Modern Water Colors

Modern being, of course, a relative term.

When this Discriptive Handbook of Modern Water Colour Pigments was written in 1897, Modernism defined the shift from Victorian ornamentation to the Arts and Crafts movement. My own house, which was built around this time, perfectly illustrates the time period in its own imperfect way. Like an awkward adolescent, it had outgrown the need for superfluous decoration but still couldn't give up its Victorian proportions. I like to think it exudes charm, although in a somewhat artless fashion.

Modern, in the terms of this handbook, could also imply improvements made to the paint formulas. The "water colour controversy" mentioned on the front cover references fade tests that had been performed on Winsor & Newton paints. Today, conservators have accelerated aging tests that can predict the long-term aging effects of light on inks and photographs well into the future. In the late 19th century the tests were perfomed by placing color washes in a window for 15 years and waiting for the results. As you can imagine, the colors reacted differently and Winsor & Newton was working to adjust the formulas for increased color permanence.

This handbook, along with others produced by the Winsor & Newton paint company, is part of the Kibele and Garrard Architectural Records Collection. This collection contains, in addition to architectural drawings, a wide variety of materials related to the practice of being an architect in the late 19th and early 20th century.

International Symposium on 19th-Century Architecture Photography

Indiana University South Bend and University of Notre Dame are hosting an international symposium in South Bend, Indiana, October 3-4 titled Documenting History, Charting Progress, Exploring the World: Nineteenth-Century Photographs of Architecture. In concert with the symposium, there's also an exhibit, curated by Micheline Nilsen, professor of art history at IUSB, of photographs from the Snite Museum of Art's collection on display.

The symposium is free and open to the public. For more information contact mnilsen@iusb.edu.

Program:

Uncertain future for Washington Elementary School in Vincennes

Indiana Landmarks reported in the latest issue of Indiana Preservationist magazine that Washington Elementary School in Vincennes, along with nearby Inman Field, is facing an uncertain future. The stately, Collegiate Gothic landmark has been closed due to budget cuts, and joins two other vacant historic schools owned by the Vincennes Community School Corporation. Hopefully Vincennes will be able to identify reuses for these beautiful buildings.

In happier times, the city celebrated the building's 25th birthday in style, according to this news article in our Jay C. Bixby Architectural Records Collection:

Ball State + Geothermal

Construction work on a college campus in summertime is certainly not unusual. It's even to be expected. However, this summer on this college campus there is something rather unusual happening as far as construction is concerned. The university is installing pipes to the nation's largest geothermal initiative, which is expected to save the university over $2M a year in energy costs as well as make Ball State a leader in alternative energy.

The project will replace four coal-burning furnaces that heat and cool 45 buildings and span the entire 660-acre campus. It is nothing short of extraordinary.

The boreholes are located away from the core of campus, but the hot and cold water pipes will be installed underground throughout campus. For a map of the of the geothermal project: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/~/media/Files/About/Geothermal/GeoThermal_Final.ashx

And for more information about the project, including links to IPR segments: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/Geothermal.aspx

These pictures were taken this morning and the construction crew appears to be installing sections of the hot water loop in front of the Health and Physical Activity building. In the picture above, you can see the Health building on the left. Architecture is between that building and Shafer Tower. The picture below is looking north on McKinley.

Architecture's Modern Marvels Culture: vanityfair.com

What this link doesn't have: any buildings in Indiana.

What it does have: extraordinary photographs of some of the best examples of architecture around the world since 1980. One of them is even a library!

Architecture's Modern Marvels Culture: vanityfair.com

Student Design Competition

Ball State University's ICMA Student Design Competition

Second Annual Foundation Golf Scramble

Wednesday August 18, 2010 / 1:00PM Shotgun Start

Valle Vista Golf and Conference Center

Indiana Concrete Masonry Association, Ball State University and CAP invite you to participate in the Second Annual ICMA Student Design Competition Foundation Golf Scramble, Wednesday, August 18, 2010 to be held at Valle Vista Golf and Conference Center. Proceeds of the event will go directly to the foundation, insuring another 40 years of success. CAP and Ball State University are supporting this event benefiting the ICMA Student Design Competition Foundation Account. Every Ball State Architectural graduate can remember the time and effort they dedicated to this program. CAP separates itself from most architectural schools in the nation by requiring second year students to complete the ICMA Student Design Competition.

Together, Ball State University, CAP and ICMA have offered this rite of passage to architectural students for over 40 years. Second generation students have come through this program, which helps keep the ICMA Student Design Studio the longest externally funded design competition in CAP's history.

If you do not play golf, please consider sponsoring the event or send a gift directly to the Ball State University, Development, attention Brenda Bergl, Muncie, Indiana, 47306. The check must be made out to Ball State University Foundation, ICMA Fund #677 in support of Ball State, CAP and ICMA's Student Design Competition. We appreciate your consideration during these challenging economic times.

Your golf registration provides you the free driving net, putting green, cart, 18 holes, lunch, beverages on the course, dinner, cash bar and awards.

To get additional information visit here to download the registration form.

For more information, contact:
Brenda Bergl

Ball State University

University Development 765.285.2549

Image: Pictorial, National Concrete Masony Association, Volume 17, Number 5, 1961.

Part of the Drawings + Documents Archive's Trade Catalog Collection

Something fishy

Perhaps it's the torrential rain we've experienced in Indiana lately that inspires today's posting of a fish design in lineoleum created by the Fort Wayne-based architect Alvin Strauss in 1936 for an addition built onto Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Isay's house in South Whitley, Indiana. The stylized fish themselves appear as though they would be right at home in a Betty Boop cartoon, thanks to their prominent lips and curvaceous figures. By the time Strauss drew these in 1936, Betty Boop had already starred in a series of animated films and was incredibly popular across the country, so it is probable the architect had been influenced by the cartoons he had seen at the theater.

The extensive Strauss Architectural Records Collection contains drawings of theaters, residences, businesses, and schools built primarily in the northeast region of the state in the early 20th century. The collection is available for research. During the summer, the archive is by appointment only and you can schedule a visit by calling 765-285-8441.

Researching an Architect

Need help researching an architect? The American Institute of Architects maintains an online database of historic architects (determined as AIA members before 1978) that can assist you in your serarch. http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/Home.aspx

Here is what you will find in the AIA Historical Directory:

• Names of all national-level AIA members up to 1978
• Years of membership until 1978
• Does NOT include members who joined fewer than 30 years ago
• References to their entries in biographical directories (example: Jamieson Parker)
• Full text of the 3 editions of American Architects Directory
• Digitized files from the AIA Archives (example: Francis Abreu and note Related Records link to Abreu & Robinson with other digitized files)
• What might be in their AIA Archives file, if it isn’t digitized yet—you can request it to be scanned if the person is deceased
• Links to architects’ papers and drawings in other archives (example: Irving F. Morrow)
• Names of non-member architects who appear in directories or other archives
• Names of firms that appear in directories, in other archives, or in the AIA Archives
• Does NOT include lists of buildings

Modernmasters trade catalog

Our Trade Catalog Collection contains over 700 brochures, product literature and samples of building items from the 19th to late 20th century. Among them is this Modernmaster catalog from 1953, featuring chairs, sofas and tables that have become iconic representations of mid-century modern furniture design.

Tucked into the catalog, was this one-page pricing sheet from Herman Miller, featuring chairs designed by Charles Eames, one of the foremost designers of the Modernist movement.

Image credits:

Modernmasters: America’s Foremost Collection of Classically Modern Furniture, layout and typography by Clifford Pascoe; photography by Lionel Freedman, John B. Watkins Company, New York City, 1953.
Trade Catalog Collection TC 160.

Herman Miller Furniture Company chair price sheet, Furniture Forum, 1950s.

Trade Catalog Collection TC 160.

Bush Stadium

At one time elegant and stately, historic Bush Stadium (originally Perry Stadium) continues to fascinate us as it awaits its fate. Languishing in its current condition near downtown Indianapolis and on Indiana Landmarks' list of "10 Most Endangered Places," the building has fortunately inspired much revitalization interest lately. It's exciting to hear about plans to preserve the building while making it relevant to current needs.

While the Archive does not have the original plans in our Pierre & Wright Architectural Records Collections, we do have drawings made during renovations in the 1940s-1980s that are in the Indianapolis Parks Collection. If you're interested in seeing any of these drawings, you are welcome to make an appointment to see them here at the Archive.

For more information on the history and condition of Bush Stadium, visit Indiana Landmarks: http://www.historiclandmarks.org/newsphotos/10most/pages/bushstadium.aspx

Image credits:

Perry Stadium, linen postcard, n.d. Postcard Collection.

Perry Stadium, photostat, 1920s. Pierre and Wright Architectural Records Collection.

Monon Railroad and Camp Ida Wineman

While processing a collection of Monon Railroad drawings from the 1920s, we uncovered this interesting drawing of the section of bridge spanning the White River in Broad Ripple. Camp Ida Wineman is prominently represented near the bridge, complete with its two-story building, porch and portico, however we have found little information about the camp. One reference mentions it was a Jewish summer camp in the early 1900s. Anyone know anything else about it?

Modern Lighting

It may look like a UFO flying over a well-lit suburban home, but it is only an advertisement for a 1939 lamp fixture that will "light condition" the American home. This brochure from Silvray Lighting of Long Island City, New York, is part of our large and soon-to-be cataloged trade catalog collection.

"Silvered bowl Mazda lamps in Silvray Sight Savers provide modern eye-saving indirect light at the lowest cost.

Sight-Savers are designed especially for use with the Silvered Bowl Mazda lamp which has a pure silver mirror reflector hermetically sealed to it. The need for expensive, bulky, auxiliary reflectors in the fixture is thus eliminated."

Image: Mazda Lamp catalog, 1939. Silvray Lighting, Inc. TC-2009.147. Part of the Drawings + Documents Archive trade catalog collection.

Mass transit in Indiana, 100 years ago

The Interurban network in Indiana had a profound impact on towns and cities, as well as architecture during the first thirty years of the twentieth century. What was the Interurban? The Interurban was a series of electrically-powered railcars that had their own rail lines and traversed the entire state, from South Bend to Evansville and Richmond to Terre Haute. The term “interurban” was coined by a Hoosier native named Charles L. Henry. Henry, born in Pendleton, Indiana, was a lawyer, businessman, and politician. While attending the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, he saw the electric streetcars transporting people between the fairgrounds and the city and thought why not use this same technique to transport people and freight between towns and cities.

In 1898, Henry established the first Interurban company in Indiana, which operated an Interurban line from Anderson to Alexandria. This company, the Union Traction Company of Indiana, was the first of dozens of Interurban companies that would be created during the early twentieth century. Over time, the Interurban was replaced with bus routes and the automobile. The last Interurban line that still exists is in Indiana is the South Shore Line, which runs from South Bend to downtown Chicago.

The Interurban fueled the population growth and development of new residential neighborhood in towns and cities throughout the state. The Interurban companies built multiple office buildings, depots, and warehouses. Regrettably, many of these historic structures have been demolished, including the Indianapolis Traction Terminal. The Indianapolis Traction Terminal was purported to be the largest Interurban station in the entire United States. It was located on the northwest corner of Market and Illinois Streets in downtown Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis Traction Terminal was designed by Daniel Burnham and constructed in 1904. The terminal featured a large train shed constructed of steel and a nine-story office tower that contained a large station and various shops in the first floor and office space for various Interurban companies in the upper floors. The terminal was built to be the central hub where all of the Interurban lines that traveled through Indianapolis would use. Thousands of people traveled through the terminal each year. For example, in 1918, over seven million passengers traveled through the Indianapolis Traction Terminal. The train shed was demolished in 1968 and the office tower was razed in 1972.

Today, the site of the former Indianapolis Traction Terminal is home to the Indianapolis Hilton Hotel. This fine example of Interurban related architecture has been lost to history, but lives on in historic photographs and postcards, such as the one above.

Submitted by Ryan Shrack, graduate assistant in Historic Preservation

Image: Traction Terminal Building, Indianapolis, Ind., color postcard. Part of the Drawings + Documents Archive's postcard collection.

Edward Pierre's Designs

Much of the Pierre and Wright Architectural Records Collection has recently come back from being scanned into our Digital Media Repository. For unprecedented access to a large number of images from this collection, go to http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/collection.php?CISOROOT=/PieWri.

Digitization of any collection requires quite a lot of sorting to determine which images are to be scanned, and then re-integration of the collection once the scanning process is complete. We are currently re-boxing the collection and I discovered this very small photostat of a drawing for the Chevrolet Sales and Service building in Kokomo, Indiana, designed by Edward Pierre in the 1950s or early 1960s.

Pierre, who began his architectural career designing Art Nouveau and Art Deco inspired buildings in the early 20th century, embraced Modernist designs as they evolved. It is evident he wasn't rigid in his design sense (such as someone like Louis Sullivan), but you can, however, see similarities in his design principles that are translated through the changing architecture of his time.

This is evident in his work for two car-related buildings he designed. The first, the Rose Tire Company building from 1930, has a wide band of windows, bays for cars, a designated office area, and an ornamental sign on top of the building. The second building, the Chevrolet building, ca. 1950s, has all of the same elements except that the area for cars is inside, behind the wide band of windows. The design has been stripped of the ornamentation seen in the 1930 design, most noticeably the sign on top of the building.

Of course, these are all standard elements of a car business. In the U.S., we have certainly seen plenty of car dealerships reminiscent of the Chevrolet building. What makes it interesting is how Pierre balanced the proportions similarly from one design period to another. You might think it would be impossible to link the two very different designs to the same architect but, seeing the two drawings side-by-side it becomes, if not obvious, at least believable it is the same designer.

I've been unable to locate the buildings today, or determine if the buildings were built. Does anyone know if either are standing?

Edward D. Pierre, Chevrolet Sales and Service Building, Kokomo, Ind., ca. 1950s, perspective view.

Pierre and Wright, Rose Tire Building, Indianapolis, Ind., 1930, perspective view.

Louis Sullivan

The film showing of Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture last night at the College of Architecture and Planning was an overwhelming success for students and members of the community who came out to see it and meet the filmmaker, Mark Richard Smith. Many thanks to Mark and our sponsors, the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library and the College of Architecture and Planning, for a fascinating and educational evening. It was particularly gratifying to see the exploration of Sullivan's techniques, theory and practice using his original drawings.

It was also thrilling to see the soaring panoramas of Sullivan's detailed facades and then be able to look closely at the Chicago Stock Exchange cornice on display in Architecture Professor Michele Chiuini's exhibit DiCSX, the Digital Chicago Stock Exchange.

No one should underestimate the role food plays in any event on campus, and our Sullivan-inspired terracotta-esque cupcakes were quite a hit.

Photos by Amy Trendler and Carol Street

Louis Sullivan film tonight @ 7:30

See Louis Sullivan's architecture as you've never seen it before--in HD and on the big screen--tonight in Ball State's Architecture Building, room 100. Mark Smith, the film's director and producer, will be here to talk about his film and answer questions after the showing. It's also the last night to see the 13th floor cornice from Sullivan's Chicago Stock Exchange, the exquisite building that sparked a preservation movement when it was torn down. To see it up close, as only the architect and builders would have seen it, is rather remarkable and gives you a renewed appreciation for building details.

This HABS (Historic American Building Survey) was made in the 1960s, before the building was torn down:

March Madness + Sullivan Fever, part five

The Indiana film premiere of Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture is tomorrow! Expect an exciting evening that consists of seeing the movie in HD, getting up close to the actual cornice of Sullivan's Chicago Stock Exchange building, and eating terracotta-inspired cupcakes. It's all free and not to be missed. See you at 7:30 in Architecture Building, room 100.

With Butler's exciting win this weekend, we happily continue our postings of basketball-related collections from the archive. The extraordinary Ball Gymnasium, located on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, was designed by Muncie architect Cuno Kibele and constructed in 1925. The building cost $400,000 to build, which would be approximately $4.5 million in today's dollars, with money coming mostly from the Ball family. The building is designed in the Collegiate Gothic style and matches the Burkhardt Building, which Kibele also designed, the Fine Arts Building, Lucina Hall, and the North Quadrangle Building, all located in the Old Quadrangle at the southern end of campus.

The Ball Teachers College Hoosieroons (now the Ball State Cardinals) played their home games in this building until 1963, when a new physical education building was built and Ball Gymnasium became used primarily as a women's gym. George F. Schreiber of Indianapolis was the architect of an addition built in 1939. An extensive restoration renovation of Ball Gymnasium was completed in 1997.

March Madnes + Sullivan Fever, part 4

These photographs of an unnamed gymnasium under construction come from the Pierre and Wright Architectural Records Collection. They're extraordinary photographs dating from the late 1920s-1930s, but we have not been able to determine the structure. If anyone knows, please leave a comment.

March Madness + Sullivan Fever, part 3

One of the most interesting collections of material here at the Drawings + Documents Archive is the trade catalog collection, which contains marketing publications directed to architects and those in building trades. Some of the earliest examples tout the long-lasting benefits of lead paint and durability of asbestos flooring for schools and hospitals, all printed long before the hazards of the materials were discovered.

The collection is a rich resource of ephemeral material that reflect what was valued at the time it was printed. As you might have seen in an earlier post about the mid-century concrete masonry publication, Pictorial, which highlights mid-century geometric designs with a decidely post-war American aesthetic.

We have been working on cataloging and reboxing our large trade catalog collection for the past year, and are nearly finished. It has been a year of discoveries, more of which you'll see in posts to come.

Here we have a page from a 1951 booklet of basketball backboard designs from the J.E. Porter Corporation, based out of Ottawa, Illinois. The first few pages of the book describe the differences between backboard designs and height regulations for grade school, high school, college, and professional basketball courts. The single pedestal backstop shown in this drawing is meant for college-level teams.

More March Madness + Sullivan Fever

Today's basketball images from the Archive come from our extensive Indiana Bridge Company collection, and include a client file card and 1960 newspaper clipping of the Anderson High School gymnasium during construction in Anderson, Indiana, in nearby Madison County. The original structure was destroyed by fire in the late 1950s and it was rebuilt as it stands now, in 1960.

Founded in 1886 and still operating under the name Indiana Bridge-Midwest Steel Inc., Indiana Bridge Company is Muncie's oldest manufacturer. When the Indiana Bridge Company was established by Theodore F. Rose and associates on May 17, 1886, the company built truss bridges not only for the needs of Indiana but nationwide. It later converted to making steel girders for the construction industry. During World Wars I and II, the company participated in the mobilization for the war by producing steel for the United States and its allies.

The client file cards are 4 x 6 inch cards, housed in a ca. 1900s wooden filing cabinet in the Archive. They contain information on all clients of the Indiana Bridge Co. from the beginning of the company until the 1970s. The first column is the job number, the second column is the date, the next column has a description of the job.

This particular file card is interesting due to the notes and extra jobs required due to an "architectural change" and "drawing room error."

Anderson High School is known as the "Anderson Indians" and the gymnasium is called the Wigwam. This massive building seats nearly 9,000 fans and is the second largest high school gymnasium in the country. In case you're wondering, the largest high school gymnasium seats 9,325 people and is located in New Castle, Indiana, which is only about 25 miles away from the Anderson gymnasium. As for the top ten largest high school gyms in the country, only two are located outside Indiana.

March Madness + Sullivan Fever

Here in the Hoosier state, we're suffering from a few afflictions these days. Butler University, located in Indianapolis, has had an exciting men's basketball season and is now slated for the Final Four round of the NCAA Basketball Championship tournament, which will be played this Saturday in Indianapolis. Hoosier hysteria over basketball is widely known, thanks to the film Hoosiers and legendary IU coach Bobby Knight, and Butler's success is whipping the state into a full-on frenzy of all things basketball.

From a recent request here at the archive for drawings of Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse, an extraordinary structure built in 1928 that was the largest fieldhouse in the country at the time, we learned that we do not have any drawings of that building. We do, however, have material on other gymnasiums and fieldhouses around the state. Every day until Butler's final game, which will hopefully be the championship game, we will add a new basketball-related item in our collection to the blog.

This is a ca. 1960s postcard photograph of Muncie's Fieldhouse, built the same year as Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse, but with a more traditional design. On the back of the card, it describes it as the "home of the Muncie Bearcats basketball team which has already won five state championships. It was built in 1928 and seats 7,500 people. Muncie is known as the 'Basketball Capital of Indiana'"

Not only used for basketball, the Fieldhouse was home to Eleanor Roosevelt's first visit to Muncie and speech on October 27, 1939. She addressed the challenges facing youth during the Depression. A few years later, in 1942, Abbott and Costello rallied the community in the Fieldhouse to support the war bond effort.

Sullivan fever is hitting the College of Architecture and Planning! The Indiana premiere of Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture is just a week away--April 6th at 7:30. The exhibit DiCSX, about the digital recreation of Sullivan's legendary Chicago Stock Exchange building, is up in the gallery. The last day to see the cornice of the building on display will be April 6th. So, come for the film AND the exhibit. Here's a picture from the opening of Prof. Michele Chiuini and his students K.C. Pavlik, Steve Allen, and Jessica Coleman, along with part of the building cornice:

INDIANA PREMIERE! Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture

The Friends of Bracken Library, the College of Architecture and Planning, and the Drawings and Documents Archive invite you to the Indiana premiere of the documentary film Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture, followed by a talk with the filmmaker Mark Richard Smith on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. The program will take place in the Architecture Building, room 100, beginning at 7:30.

Come earlier (or stay later!) to see the actual cornice from Sullivan's Chicago Stock Exchange building and the incredible work Architecture Professor Michele Chiuini and John Fillwalk from the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts, along with their students, are doing to reconstruct the building digitally in the exhibit DiCSX (Digital Chicago Stock Exchange) in the nearby CAP Gallery.

It's all FREE and not to be missed!

Called the father of Modernism, Sullivan revolutionized American building styles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is known for coining the Modernist design mantra “form follows function.” Many of his buildings have suffered under the guise of urban renewal, but the buildings that remain are extraordinary examples of a singular vision.

Mark Richard Smith’s new film beautifully articulates the grandeur and importance of Sullivan’s contribution to our architectural history. Clips and more information about the film can be found at http://www.louissullivanfilm.com/ Become a fan and follow the progress of the film at Facebook and twitter! The film recently debuted in Chicago (of course!) and you can read an incredible review and see video of the Q and A held after the film. Or just be surprised when you come see the film here at Ball State.

See you April 6th!

The Pantheon Theater, Vincennes, Indiana

The Pantheon Theater building in Vincennes, Indiana, is currently undergoing restoration work. Here's how it looked originally, from photographs in the Archive's Jay C. Bixby Architectural Records Collection.

In looking through an Architectural Record from May 1964, I was struck by this ad for a pneumatic tube communication system promoting architects to use them in their own offices, as well as in offices they design. The idea certainly caught on for drive-through banking, but did it succeed in office design construction?

Drawings + Documents Archive plants landscape architecture collection online

Schuyler N. Nolan (1894-1981) grew to love working with plants and designing gardens at a very young age by helping his father work on residential landscaping projects in Vincennes, Indiana, where he grew up, and later Plymouth, Indiana, after his family moved there. His only formal design training came from a three-month mechanical drafting course he took at the Chicago Technical School. He supplemented his brief formal education with, as he wrote, “a great amount of time spent in libraries” studying any materials related to landscaping.

His extensive use of the local library paid off when he began his own landscaping company while still in Illinois. He steadily built his reputation in residential landscape design and did very well until the Depression affected his clientele. He then went to work at the Indianapolis Parks Department, where he designed gardens for the 1934, 1937, and 1937 Home Shows, and then later at the Indiana State Highway Commission, where he designed roadside plantings throughout the state until 1937.

After 1937, he practiced as a landscape architect and experienced much success designing a wide range of commissions. From his work during World War II designing aircraft building plants and Naval officers’ quarters, to tony residential work for many of Indianapolis’ elite, such as J. K. Lilly and Harrison Eiteljorg, Nolan built functional yet artistic spaces for his clients.

After his retirement, an unfortunate basement flood destroyed most of his drawings and business records. He donated the drawings that managed to survive the flood to the Drawings and Documents Archive in 1979. These represent fifty-six commissions, and you can explore examples of his creative and technical design skills through his drawings for fountains, terrace gardens, and baseball fields, now available online through the Ball State University’s Digital Media Repository (http://libx.bsu.edu/collection.php?CISOROOT=/NlnArchRcrd).

Parke County's Covered Bridges

Ball State University's Center for Historic Preservation, in cooperation with Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, is producing the Parke County Historic Sites and Structures Inventory Interim Report. The interim report is the result of the 2008 survey of Parke County's historic resources and the project has been funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior-National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the Indiana DNR’s Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Prominently featured in the Report are the Parke County covered bridges for which the area is largely known. The Ball State Drawings and Documents Archive maintains a collection of drawings, photographs, and Historic Architecture Buildings Survey (HABS) documents of Parke County covered bridges as well as covered bridges throughout Indiana.

Today, covered bridges are considered historical landmarks and nostalgic reminders of a bygone era. There are many speculations about why the bridges were covered. Romantics call them “kissing bridges,” as young couples could steal away in their horse-and-buggies and sneak kisses under the cover of a bridge’s roof without fear of detection. Others suggest the bridges were built to resemble barns so farm animals would not stampede while being driven across rushing waters. Still others claim the bridges were covered to deflect snow and rain and provide shelters to travelers caught in a storm. Regardless of which explanation you prefer, covering bridges protected the trusses from deterioration caused by weather. Bridge engineers argue that covered bridges could be expected to last three times longer than non-covered bridges.

Unlike most modern bridges, which take the numbers of highways that cross them, covered bridges generally were given names that revealed something special about them. Some bridges were named for farm families that owned the land on which they rested. A number were given names of nearby towns or businesses, such as the 1856 Portland Mills Covered Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in the county. Other bridges, such as the Narrows Bridge, were named for unique characteristics associated with their appearance or history. The Narrows Bridge, built by Joseph Albert Britton, picturesquely spans Sugar Creek at Turkey Run State Park and is the most photographed bridge in Parke County.

Covered bridges have also long been the source of local folklore and ghost stories. At the Sim Smith Bridge, ghostly sounds of a horse-and-buggy can reputedly be heard rattling the wooden supports of the bridge late at night. Similarly, a ghost of a young woman who was killed in a buggy accident in the early 1900s is said to haunt Bridgeton Bridge, which was built by the eminent bridge builder J.J. Daniels in 1868. Sadly, this 245-foot double-spanned scarlet bridge was lost to arson in 2005, but rebuilt in 2006.

The covered bridges of Parke County have become a growing point of national interest since the county’s first Covered Bridge Festival in 1957. The festival continues every October, when more than two million covered bridge enthusiasts can explore the rural countryside. Parke County, which boasts itself as the “Covered Bridge Capital of the World,” has more covered bridges than any other county in the country. In December of 1978, its 31 covered bridges were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Written by Trinity Hart Vavra, Graduate Assistant at the Center for Historic Preservation

Images: Alvin W. Holmes, Bridgeton Bridge, 1946, Alvin W. Holmes Collection

Narrows Bridge, ca. 1972, HD 72.010

For more images of Parke County covered bridges, visit http://www.bsu.edu/libraries/archives/drawings/Collections/practitionercollections/holmesdigital/index.htm

Lighting the Future

If there's one thing Midwesterners need this time of year, it's light. To help us, Paul Zaferiou, a Principal in the Boston lighting consulting firm Lam Partners, Inc., will present his talk on the "Future of Lighting" at Ball State University's College of Architecture and Planning January 25th, at 4 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Zaferiou has degrees in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Oregon and is a registered architect. In his 24 years of lighting consulting experience, he has managed scores of projects representing a wide range of project types and geographic locations. His professional experience is complemented by his teaching and authoring of articles on architectural lighting design. Some of the high profile projects he has worked on are: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; The Getty Villa in Malibu, CA.; the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center; and the Metropolitan Kansas City Performing Arts Center.

To get the intellectual equivalent of a vitamin D supplement, come to the lecture January 25th, 4 p.m., in the College of Architecture and Planning, room 100.

Above photo is of the Salt Lake City Public Library, one of Paul Zaferiou's lighting projects through Lam Partners, Inc. Photo courtesy of the Salt Lake City Public Library: http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/details.jsp?parent_id=7&page_id=5